A Journey to Great Salt Lake City, Volume I and Volume II

By Jules Remy and Julius Benchley

English born Julius Benchley was considered a “gentleman explorer” who was a passionate collector of art and natural history. His companion, Jules Remy, was a noted French naturalist and traveler. Exactly what they heard about this peculiar new religion is hard to know, but it prompted them to pack their bags, travel afar, and search out the truth. The English born Julius lived in a country where thousands embraced the new faith. At one point, there were more Saints living in England than in Utah. But, the French did not embrace the new religion with the same gusto, purportedly because of a lack of interest in spiritual concerns and general mistrust. Whatever motivated these two explorers to take A Journey to Great Salt Lake City resulted in two thick books of details gathered while in the Great Basin area in the late 1850’s. Volume I is just under five hundred pages and Volume II five hundred-fifty pages. These books offer new insights to help our understanding of the early Great Salt Lake Basin.